Bank of England governor Sir Edward George would not oppose Britain switching to the euro if the government and public decided such a move, the Financial Timesreported this morning.
The bank has a great tradition of public service and "would see its responsibility as making a success of whatever was decided," George said.
The London Independentreported a junior government minister saying Britain would be in the euro within two years. The Timessaid the Foreign Office was set to publish a survey that found two-thirds of people believe EU membership is good for the country.
Eurosceptics in Britain may well shrug off those latter two newspaper reports but the comments from George will be a blow to the pro-pound brigade, which has come to regard the head of the BoE as sympathetic to its cause during the five years the Labour government has been in power.
Sir Edward, who has said the strength of the pound against the euro was "an immediate obstacle" to entry, has debated whether a "one-size-fits-all" interest rate for Europe would be best in the long term.
The question of Britain and the euro may never arise for Sir Edward as governor as he is due to step down at the end of June 2003. Chancellor Mr Gordon Brown may not have decided by then whether his five economic tests for Britain to adopt the euro have been passed.